Boredom is something that everyone experiences. This restless, empty feeling is scientifically little studied. However, some research sheds light on the “ingredients” of boredom and may provide a clue to fighting it.
Here are the top 7 surprising facts about boredom.
7. Boredom is not apathy
While these terms are often used interchangeably, being bored is not the same as being apathetic. “I think a lot of times when people think of boredom, they think of apathetic couch potatoes, but that's not true,” says James Dunkert, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. "Boredom is an aggressive, unsatisfying feeling in the sense that you have a high level of motivation to do something, but nothing you do can satisfy that need."
6. Self-control is closely related to boredom.
James Dunkert studied boredom in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), including his brother, and found that people who complained of extreme boredom were more likely to have a damaged or undeveloped frontal lobe of the cerebral hemispheres. This part of the brain plays a crucial role in self-control. The scientist suggests that due to the failure of self-control, people with PMF begin to behave too impulsively and often acquire many bad habits.
5. Boredom can literally be deadly
In 2010, staff at University College London analyzed profiles of 7,524 civil servants aged 35 to 55. People filled out questionnaires from 1985 to 1988. Study participants who frequently reported they were bored had an approximately 37% higher chance of dying by 2009 than those who wrote that they weren't bored at all. However, the authors emphasized that boredom is likely associated with higher mortality rates through other issues, such as poor health or depression.
4. Can be boring when difficult
In 2012, in one study, a group of 150 students were given easy and difficult puzzles to solve. The researchers then analyzed the subjects' boredom levels. The results showed that easy tasks led to self-focusing boredom (apathy), while difficult tasks led to more goal-oriented boredom (feeling “tired”).
3. Boredom can affect treatment for depression
The rating of interesting facts about boredom includes another case related to Dunkert and his research. In 2013, Dankert and several colleagues suggested that boredom may interfere with treatment for depression in people who have had a head injury. Behavioral activation therapy that encourages patients to engage in activities that will promote pleasure does not work for patients prone to boredom. After all, these patients are already motivated to participate in any activity, it remains only to find in which one.Instead of combating the lack of motivation in bored people, it is better to use a therapeutic approach focused on finding an activity that will become an "antidepressant."
2. The connection between high technology and boredom is not clear
People love to argue about the merits and demerits of the modern high-tech world, but there is no way to scientifically tell how boredom relates to modern technology. Researchers don't have easy access to a control group. They can't go back to 1950 and see if people were more bored because they didn't have iPhones. They can only assume that hi-tech novelties slightly dispel boredom, attracting people's attention.
1. You need to think about boredom so that it is not boring
Scientists speculate that thinking about boring tasks can help make them less tedious. For example, a factory worker whose job is to assemble the same item on a conveyor belt for several hours at a time can relieve boredom by wondering how people will benefit from the assembled product. And learning the technique of meditation can help a person delve deeper into the meaning of a task that seems boring on the surface and perform it more effectively.